RECOGNISING AND REWARDING
The Arthur Hamilton Award for Outstanding Contribution to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education
The Arthur Hamilton Award for Outstanding Contribution to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education is named in honour of Arthur Hamilton, a proud Palawa man, educator and union activist. Arthur passed away in 2004 leaving behind a legacy of a strong consciousness for equity and social justice, cross-cultural awareness, recognition of Indigenous peoples and the elimination of racism within the Australian Education Union and in school.
This Award is in recognition of AEU members who are committed to ensuring that all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students have the right to high\ quality education throughout their lives. The AEU is dedicated to ensuring that all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have local access to a free, publicly funded education system, which affirms cultural identity, and enables Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to contribute to, and participate in, their own, and broader society.
Over the weekend, Fremantle held its annual Festival. This included the Wardarnji Aboriginal Cultural Festival on the Saturday and the Parade through the city on the Sunday.
This well attended, colourful and fun afternoon was highlighted by the PALS (Partnership Acceptance Learning Sharing) Program annual award ceremony, which opened the festival, with Director General Patrick Walker and PALS Ambassador Troy Cook presenting most awards.
Students, teachers and parents from schools throughout WA gathered to see if they were amongst this year’s PALS award winners.
PALS (Partnership, Acceptance, Learning & Sharing) is an initiative of the Department of Indigenous Affairs, in partnership with BHPBilliton, that encourages young West Australians to develop projects that promote and advance reconciliation (see: August Western teacher and our website sstuwa.org.au).
These prestigious scholarships will see $25,000 per year awarded to successful recipients for the life of their teaching degree (up to four years). This will enable scholarship recipients to concentrate solely on their education studies whilst at university and fully develop their teaching skills and knowledge.
The international community showed its support for the world’s nearly 400 million indigenous people by adopting the landmark 2007 declaration outlining their rights, a United Nations independent human rights said today.
Wednesday September 2nd was Australia’s third Indigenous Literacy Day.
Fremantle Press (www.fremantlepress.com.au) organised Perth’s 2nd year of celebratory events, in conjunction with the Art Gallery of WA and the State Library of WA.
Claire Miller, from Fremantle Press, said that “...the day was a great success, with 150 students participating from both state and private schools. I feel this annual day can only get better.”
ILP will target eight communities in WA, represented by the Ngannyatjarra Council. Papulankutja, Mantamaru, Patjarr, Tjirrkarli, Wanarn, Warakurna, Warburton and Wingellina will now benefit from ILP through the efforts its English as a Second Language Coordinator as the local ILP Officer.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people should be the central players in developing policies that affect them, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Tom Calma said today, ahead of International Day of the World’s Indigenous People this Sunday, (9 August).
“The International Day of the World’s Indigenous People has been celebrated on 9 August since 1994 in order to strengthen international efforts to find solutions to problems faced by Indigenous people in education, culture, health and human rights, to name just a few areas,” Commissioner Calma said.
“We are not immune from these challenges in Australia and I urge us all to keep our eye on the ball and continue to build on the giant steps forward we’ve recently taken as a nation in relation to our Indigenous people.
Read more: World Indigenous Day: time to honour Aboriginal & TSI people
As part of the School holiday programme, and to celebrate NAIDOC week, the Town of Victoria Park held a wonderful day for children, and educated them in Indigenous culture at the same time.
Set at the Leisurelife Centre, children had the opportunity to learn the didgeridoo, play theatre games, do some aboriginal movement and dance, as well as make headbands and have traditional ochre painted on their faces.
Derek Nannup, Lockridge SHS teacher , also runs Creative Pathways, a group which visits schools and communities in order to perform and teach children about Indigenous culture.
Freda Ogilvie (ATSIEC member) from the DET invited us to a NAIDOC week breakfast, put on by The Department of Health and Department for Childhood Protection.
The delicious meal was well attended with guest speakers such as the Reverand Sealin Garlett, Jenny Collard from DCP and the Hon Dr Kim Hames (Deputy Premier; Minister for Health; Minister for Indigenous Affairs).
NAIDOC stands for the National Aboriginal and Islander Day Observance Committee. Its origins can be traced to the emergence of Aboriginal groups in the 1920s which sought to increase awareness in the wider community of the status and treatment of Indigenous Australians.
Sorry Day 22 May : The National Sorry Day Committee encourages all Schools and Education Facilities to hold a Sorry Day Event on May 26th 2009 Information and Resources can be found at: http://www.nsdc.org.au/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=59&Itemid=25 
A self-determining and independent body which does not deliver services and has equal representation of men and women are among the consensus points reached at a three-day workshop in Adelaide last month (11- 13 March) to lay the groundwork for a new national Indigenous representative body, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Tom Calma said today.Funding for housing a major step forward to close the gap
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Tom Calma has welcomed the $5.5 billion National Partnership on Remote Indigenous Housing announced by the federal government.
“This commitment to deliver new houses and upgrades to homes in remote communities is a major milestone in closing the gap in life expectancy outcomes for Indigenous people,” Commissioner Calma said.
“Investment of this magnitude in real bricks and mortar will impact positively on the health, education and life outcomes of remote Indigenous people.
The ACTU has developed the ACTU Indigenous Workers Survey to give Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander workers the opportunity to voice their opinions and values about their working lives.
Troy Buswell and the State Government have appointed a former Howard Government industrial relations advocate to review Western Australian workplace laws and will soon announce changes that could affect up to 300,000 Western Australian workers.
Public schools are a foundation stone of our society. They are places of learning, of inspiration and opportunity where every Australian child can get the education they deserve. It's the key to a strong economy, a skilled workforce and a socially cohesive society.
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Public education should be free and open to all to ensure non-selective and non-discriminatory access to education. Every child has a right to be educated, to develop as a human being. This capability should not be denied to anyone, either by design or neglect.
